Dumplings and Noodles at Dong Bei Restaurant

My apologies for the previous posting of this entry. This was originally scheduled to be published last Monday, but for some reason, WordPress didn’t publish it. Then when it was published, I find out that the rest of the entry has disappeared. Here’s the complete entry.

I wouldn’t have discovered Dong Bei if I hadn’t joined Ivan Man Dy’s Big Binondo Food Wok. Tucked in one of Binondo’s not-so-busy streets, you wouldn’t really think to venture into this area, thinking the restaurant serving the best dumplings in Chinatown can be found here.

Dong Bei Pork and Kutchay Dumplings
Dong Bei Pork and Kutchay Dumplings

Dong Bei restaurant, unlike most Chinese restaurants who mainly serve Cantonese dishes, specialize in Northern Chinese cuisine. Customers come in for their specialty: fresh handmade dumplings. The dumplings are made right then and their by their crew. Though they also freeze dumplings for storage, the dumplings served are cooked fresh.

Eric, my travel buddy for this mini Manila re-discovery trip, and I shared a mixed plate of pork and kutchay (chives) dumplings. The dumplings are served with a sauce made with soy sauce (?), vinegar and chopped garlic, with chilli on the side. Not the typical soysauce + kalamansi sauce we’re used to, but their sauce was good and matched their dumpling very well.

Dong Bei Kutchay Dumplings
You can actually see the ingredients of their dumplings!

Halfways through our plate, we realize that Dong Bei also make their own fresh “handiwork” noodles. Intrigued, we decided to try the noodles. Calling a server, we asked for their bestseller. She recommends Soy Bean Sauce, which she said is “like spaghetti.” We took her word and placed our order.

Dong Bei Soy Bean Sauce Handiwork Noodles
Soy Bean Sauce Handiwork Noodles

As the server said, the sauce is served on the side along with long strips of cucumbers. What an odd combination, I thought. But it has been a pretty hot day; the cool cucumbers would be great to eat. After a round of photos, we quickly mixed the noodles with the sauce and cucumbers and took out first taste. It was great! Somehow, the combination of the noodles, the cucumber and the pork cooked with soy bean worked really well together. I’m definitely ordering this again when I come back to Dong Bei.

A plate of 14 pieces of dumplings and the bowl of handiwork noodles costs Php 100. Ice cold cans of cola costs Php 25 each. Our bill amounted to Php 250. At Php 125, this has been a pretty great meal.

Dong Bei Restaurant
642 Yuchengco St (formerly Nueva)
Binondo, Manila

From the Binondo Church, walk along Ongpin street (where the big purple fire trucks are). Turn left at the first corner and cross the intersection. Dong Bei is at your right.

10 thoughts on “Dumplings and Noodles at Dong Bei Restaurant”

  1. hi nina!! i LOVEEEE dong bei! sad that manila is so far away from where i live but if ever i find myself walking around the streets of ongpin, i always make it a point to buy 3 huge frozen bags of dumplings to take home! yummm

  2. fran: How does the frozen dumplings compare to the fresh ones? Still the same ba? I’m thinking of buying some when I go back. Teka, do they steam their dumplings din ba?

    Anna: Why don’t we just schedule an RBJ tour of Chinatown? You round up the gang, I’ll plot the route. What do you say? 😀

  3. it tastes pretty much the same, we do the steaming ourselves 🙂 also you can ask the waitress to add in an extra tube of soy sauce for you too 🙂

  4. Fran: I just remembered, do they steam their dumplings or boil it? And yay! nagsasama sila ng sauce nila with each frozen dumpling order? Yung sauce mismo nila? Yummmmm. I can’t wait go to back!

  5. oops my bad..i just remembered too! we boiled the dumplings pala. basta put it in a huge pot of boiling water then when the dumplings starts to go up to the surface, put in another cup of water then wait again for the dumplings to float up then ok na! 🙂

  6. Just ate at Dong Bei yesterday and fell in love with it. I also ordered a plate of mixed dumplings and ended up ordering the beef noodle soup which was outstanding. I could really taste the fresh ingredients they use.
    Amazing place to eat!

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